


Keeping Watch

by TamerLorika



Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Berk's Grapevine Secret Odin Exchange, Gen, and i have some ideas for fftb now, happy snoggletog!, i had fun in snotlout's head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 00:16:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13822470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TamerLorika/pseuds/TamerLorika
Summary: “He likes this,” Snotlout grumbled at Hookfang as he flew. “It’s the attention.”





	Keeping Watch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [were-not-the-losechesters](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=were-not-the-losechesters).



> Hi Friend! Here is a silly little introspective I had a lot of fun writing. Set somewhere in the events of RTTE Season 5 - I hope you like it!
> 
> My Secret Odin requested Hiccup Whump and Snotlout Cousin-Feels; I hope I gave you a bit of both of those! Happy Snoggletog!

                Snotlout hated Astrid Hofferson, and he was afraid that she had been right.

                They’d split up the search for one Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, boy wonder and consummate damsel in distress.

                “He likes this,” Snotlout grumbled at Hookfang as he flew. “It’s the attention.”

                Hookfang snorted out what could have been agreement and flew on.

                “Kidnapped once for ransom—sure, I got that,” Snotlout continued as they dipped over familiar islands and kept north. “Everyone gets a free pass. But this is the _second time_ it’s happened, _without_ Toothless, and obviously that’s deliberate.

                He kept ranting even though Hookfang had clearly tuned him out. It wasn’t because he was nervous or anything. Or even that he’d fought with Astrid, who was riding Toothless the opposite direction because she was _sure_ that the directions that Johann had given were foolproof even though they _knew_ that the man was an even more colossal screw-up than Snotlout was!

                But call it a hunch, call it bad mutton, Snotlout knew that Hiccup had been taken north. And so when Astrid got fed up with him and told him to “run off by yourself, see if I care!” he did just that.

                The sea was quiet, the beaches deserted, and Snotlout was starting to fear that maybe he’d gone off for no reason.

                “I don’t know, Hooky, maybe…well, maybe we need to—Holy All-Father!” Snotlout yelped as Hookfang, without preamble, folded his wings and dove into complete freefall downwards. “Yaaaaa---gh!”

                His eyes were streaming, the wind biting into his face, but he held onto Hookfang’s horns and tried to peer down at—oh, Thor, what was Hiccup doing down _there?_

                Well, he was certainly in no position to judge Snotlout if, as soon as Hookfang touched down, he _dashed_ earnestly to Hiccup’s side. The boy was sort of unconscious, after all.

                The cause of this was clear—Hiccup was at the bottom of a steep cliff, and fresh scree surrounded him where he lay with his arm at an awkward angle and his chest stuttering as he breathed. He’d been trying to climb down it, probably—Snotlout had thought that he’d seen some kind of encampment over the rise—and ate dirt.

                “You idiot, that peg doesn’t have any _traction_!” Snotlout yelled. Hookfang gave a warning growl, looking pointedly up the cliff. Oh, right. Hiccup had been running from something.

                “Yeah, yeah, I know,” Snotlout muttered, trying to figure out what the best way to get Hiccup onto Hookfang was. He was starting to get desperate to realize that there might not be one. Hiccup’s ribs were absolutely broken, and Hookfang was notoriously difficult to ride even in the peak of physical condition—obviously the reason only Snotlout could ride him.

                The cold wind whistled over the heather around him, but that was the only sound but for the faintest clanking of metal on the other side of the island. His instincts told him they were safe for now, if Hiccup would stop the kind of worrying gasping he was doing.

                They needed help. Hell, they needed Toothless at least, who could keep him flat and steady and get him back to Berk.

                Snotlout turned to look at Hookfang. “Go get Astrid.”

                For a long, scary moment, it looked like this was going to be one of those times that Hookfang pretended he didn’t speak Icelandic. The Nightmare cocked his head and stared at Snotlout for one blink, two.

                “Oh for the love of—I got this, you big lizard, just go get help! I know you can understand me!”

                Hookfang didn’t move. His gaze darted between Snotlout and Hiccup, then up the cliff.

                Snotlout waved a hand in his face. “Hel- _loh_ , I told you to _go!”_

The brow ridges on Hookfang’s face furrowed, and he cocked his head.

                The adrenaline that had infused Snotlout’s blood with their unexpected freefall left him in a rush, and he found himself sagging, his shoulders slumping and his knees almost giving out. It was sudden, scary, but he felt it happen and braced himself against Hookfang’s nose as the dragon offered it.

                “Yeah, I know,” Snotlout said softly after he got his bearings. He looked over at Hiccup’s prone body, wincing. At least no one but Hookfang was around to hear this. “Maybe I don’t got it. But you need to go anyway, okay?  We can’t do it alone.”

                That, more than anything, seemed to break through Hookfang’s defenses, and the dragon dipped his head and let Snotlout stand on his own feet. Quickly, the Nightmare knocked his skull gently against Snotlout’s side, then just as abruptly was in the air and streaking away faster than Snotlout had _ever_ seen him move, except for in pursuit of dinner.

                Which, of course, left Snotlout alone with an unconscious Hiccup, an unknown threat, and a relatively small axe. Also, no idea what to do.

                No, wait, that wasn’t entirely true. “Thor bless snot,” Snotlout muttered as he dug out the vial of Monstrous Nightmare gel he had on him. The fire it would produced, when smeared on a section of the heather after he’d cleared a ring around it, would be low and not very hot, but it wouldn’t smoke either. Fire laid, he got to work field-dressing what he could of Hiccup’s injuries. His tunic was sacrificed to help splint Hiccup’s arm, and gently wrap his ribs. He’d seen the toolkit Toothless normally travelled with; surely as soon as he and Astrid showed up everything would be fine.

                Hiccup took another deep, shuddering breath.

                “Oh, stop, you’re going to be fine,” Snotlout said gruffly. “Just as soon as the others get here.”

                The wind whistled down the heath.

                That was it. _Now_ Snotlout didn’t know what to do. There wasn’t much that needed doing, anyhow. He sat next to Hiccup, shivering slightly in just his vest, and braced his axe over his knees.

                “Why couldn’t Astrid have just _listened_ to me?” he muttered, stroking back the stupid fringe of hair on Hiccup’s forehead and feeling for fever. God, his cousin was an idiot. He didn’t even wear a proper helmet; probably hit his head at some point. “You’d be properly rescued already if the others were here. Fishlegs would probably have half of Berk’s medicine store on him, and could forage the rest of it. Hels, even the twins probably know what to do for trauma injuries. They get them enough.”

                Hiccup made a pained noise and shifted slightly. Whatever he moved must have hit his ribs, because he gasped and went rigid. Snotlout froze as well, wanting to make Hiccup _stop_ but not sure if he was going to make it worse. Finally, after a long, tense moment, Hiccup settled again.

                Snotlout went back to watching the shoreline for the dragons’ approach, keeping his ears perked for sounds of anyone ready to pursue Hiccup. Whatever he’d escaped from, they’d notice before too long. His fingers tightened on his axe.

                “A—Astrid?”

                The sound of Hiccup’s voice had Snotlout startled out of the doze he _might_ have slipped into and on his feet in seconds. He panted, his axe swinging fruitlessly in the air, before he realized what had happened. He set his axe down blade-first and leaned not-so-casually on the haft.

                “No, _rockbrain_ , it’s not your girlfriend. _Sorry_.”

                Hiccup’s brow was furrowed, his eyes slitted open but barely focusing. “Snotlout?”

                “Got it in one, boulder-boy,” Snotlout grumbled. “Sorry,” he added again, huffing and thumping onto the ground.

                Hiccup tried to move his arm, ran into the splint, and made a wounded noise. “Wha--?”

                “You tell me,” Snotlout challenged him. “Hookfang found you at the bottom of this Thor-forsaken cliff. Probably fell, but what do we know?”

                He was hoping that Hiccup would, you know, _tell him¸_ maybe let him know what the plan was, but instead Hiccup just made another pained sound. “You treated me?”

                Snotlout rolled his eyes. “Obviously. Hooky didn’t do it.”

                “…fire?”

                Snotlout gestured to it, even though Hiccup wasn’t actually seeing it. “You know it.”

                “Water?” Hiccup asked hopefully.

                “Geez, princess,” Snotlout huffed, dutifully opening his own canteen and holding Hiccup up so he wouldn’t choke. By the time that _arduous_ process was finished, the man was asleep again. Snotlout took up his watch.

               

* * *

 

                Snotlout didn’t spot Astrid or Toothless until they were upon them, streaking down after using the cloud-cover to mask their approach. He was grudgingly impressed; he’d worried about their visibility coming in.

                Should have known Astrid had it covered.

                He scrambled out of the way as Toothless bounded to Hiccup’s side, not even pausing to let Astrid off. Astrid didn’t look must better than the distressed dragon, finally dismounting after a moment to kneel by Hiccup’s head and say something absurdly sweet and worried to him while checking him over. Toothless licked his face, which— _gross_. Snotlout let them have their moment. For…a moment.

                “Hey, where’s Hookfang?” he demanded, realizing they’d come alone.

                “He’s—”

                But there he was now, undulating over the skyline. And he wasn’t alone.

                “Huh. I figured he was off to find you, but I guess he was smarter than that,” Astrid said, narrowing her eyes in a pleased way as the harried visage of Gothi became visible astride Hookfang’s neck.

                “ _That’s_ my boy!” Snotlout crowed, pumping his fist into the sky. “Oi, oi, oi!” Now that Astrid was here, he wasn’t too worried about getting found out. Come and get him, he’d take them all down.

                Astrid needed help getting a bandaged Hiccup up onto Toothless’ back after Gothi was done with him, and to arrange him so flying would only hurt a _little_ and not the abominable amount it could have. He took Hiccup’s shoulders while Astrid took his feet—foot—and climbed on in front of him. It was going to be precarious, but it would probably work.

                When Snotlout stepped aside, though, he found himself held in place by Hiccup’s fingers tangled in his vest.

                “What, need me to move you a little?” Snotlout demanded.

                “Snotlout, I—” Hiccup made another pathetic little noise. It didn’t hurt Snotlout to hear it, not even a little. “I’m glad it was you.”

                Snotlout goggled at him. “Excuse me, what?”

                Hiccup had the nerve to chuckle, just a little. “Bandaging me? The fire? Keeping watch?” He untangled his fingers, switching to a weak fistbump. “No one I’d rather have watched my back. Well, my everything.”

                Toothless was in the air moments later, leaving Snotlout to stare after him in stunned silence.

                “He’s definitely feverish,” Snotlout told Gothi, who shook her head. Still, Snotlout couldn’t help the smile that curved his lip. “Watch his back…hah, more like he’s watching _my_ back,” he muttered, just for the show of it. The pleased warmth in his cheeks and in his chest didn’t go away, though, not until long after they’d left the island behind, and he felt his hand straying to his axe every so often as they flew, wondering if maybe that _was_ something he could be good at.

 

 


End file.
